Company at Center of an Inquiry

By RONALD SMOTHERS

Published: April 20, 2002

There was a time when the name United Gunite Inc. made northern New Jersey politicians think of a ruddy-faced, boastful Tennessean named Gerald David Free, a man who was always eager to buy whole tables of tickets to their fund-raising events.

Tony Monteiro, a councilman from Elizabeth, said he remembered that Mr. Free, the vice president of United Gunite, a sewer-repair and road-paving company, swaggered like he was ''the Bill Gates of the sewer-repair industry.''

But today those politicians recoil at the mention of United Gunite, an Irvington company whose name evokes thoughts of a corruption scandal. Mr. Free and the company's president, W. Steven Carroll, pleaded guilty in January 2001 to paying bribes for millions of dollars in municipal contracts. And the two have been cooperating with federal prosecutors in an investigation that has led to the conviction of one Paterson official for whom they financed a family vacation to Disney World. The investigation has also led to the indictment of another who prosecutors charge was given vacations, home improvements, a swimming pool and female companionship in exchange for paving contracts.

On Thursday the company's name echoed in the Essex County Hall of Records, where Federal Bureau of Investigation agents served warrants on County Executive James W. Treffinger and County Administrator Ronald Manzella. The F.B.I. was seeking documents related to United Gunite and at least two other companies -- Gourmet Dining Services in Monclair and Century 21 Construction Company in Clifton -- and to contributions to Mr. Treffinger's political campaigns. The agents also sought documents about several employees who, according to lawyers familiar with the warrants, are suspected of spending their county time working solely on Mr. Treffinger's political campaigns. Those same lawyers said that investigators were also pursuing the possibility that political contributors were directly rewarded with county contracts.

Spokesmen for the F.B.I. as well as the United States attorney for New Jersey refused to comment on the search warrants or the specific information being sought.

United Gunite started in Alabama and took its name from the asphalt-like material it used to resurface roads as well as reinforce large sewer pipes. It moved to North Jersey in the 1980's. At one point it was doing $50 million in business, but the extent of its current operations is unclear. Mr. Carroll refused to talk about the company.

With an indictment in February, federal prosecutors described what they said was Mr. Free's purchase of designer suits for Mayor Martin Barnes of Paterson as well as vacations for him and his wife and his girlfriends.

Mr. Free became a fixture in City Hall, according to members of the council and prosecutors who charged in a 40-count indictment that his company provided home improvements and a swimming pool at the mayor's home in exchange for millions of dollars in no-bid sewer and paving contracts.

One lawyer familiar with the subpoena of the Essex County offices said that investigators were not pursuing anything as ''overt'' in Mr. Treffinger's case and were instead looking for the possibility of campaign contributions to the 51-year-old county executive's re-election campaign in 1998, his unsuccessful run for the United States Senate nomination two years ago and his current run for the Republican Senate nomination.

Mr. Free could not be reached for comment and his lawyer, Michael Washor, would not comment on what contacts, if any, his client had with Essex County officials.

But it all sounded very familiar to Mr. Monteiro and others in Elizabeth, where F.B.I. agents have interviewed more than a dozen officials in connection with their investigation of United Gunite's activities.

James Ford, a member of the Elizabeth Board of Education, recalled the company's plan to build its headquarters on four acres that the board wanted to condemn to use for a new school. United Gunite had the support of top city officials who had given the company millions of dollars in no-bid resurfacing and sewer-repair jobs.

Mr. Ford said that in retrospect it appeared that the school system never had a chance of winning over United Gunite, which he said seemed tied into the administration of Mayor Chris Bollwage. In an interview, Mr. Bollwage denied having improper dealings with Mr. Free or the company, saying that he supported private development of the property because it would create jobs, and he believed that environmentally it was unfit for a school.

Then in 2000 Mr. Free and Mr. Carroll, professing a change of heart, approached the school board and offered to sell it the property, according to the board president, Rafael Fajardo. A few months later they were indicted and the land, at Trumbull and Division Avenues, now lies vacant, overgrown and strewn with mounds of dirt.

''Many of us see this lot as a symbol of our frustration and corrupt politics,'' Mr. Ford said, ''which had Elizabeth taxpayers paying through the nose to United Gunite.''